Woods Walker
The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
This outing is really a two for one deal. Occasionally I like to do night outings. These are trips which happen all at night. I start at night and end in the early morning hours before the sunrise or head out first thing in the AM. The key aspects are traveling and setting up a camp at night which offers a very different aspect to a daylight start. Unlike many outings headlamps, flashlights and lanterns are critical gear on par with clothing, shelter kit and knives IMHO. Both outings occurred at the same site and weekend but are very different.
Part 1. The solo night outing.
Sometimes during winter a sled will be employed to carry my pack and haul wood but this time I am using my truck. Unlike a sled this truck runs on gas.
Drove into camp setting up a lantern to claim ownership of the area.
So far the CL25R has been a winner.
My hammock. I found these trees a bit too near for the hammock's ropes but it was good enough.
First priority is a fire to cook as I didn't bring a mess kit, utensils or stove. Did I mention I had a truck? Also a dirt road. Among other things I found a sawed off section of a picnic table. No I didn't do it. LOL!
Also didn't have a tinder, matches or a lighter. But did have a proven friction fire set though given it rained during the day a hike would be in order to find resources to assure my firecraft success. To be honest I also had a firesteel attached to my necker's sheath so this is really just skillz practice. Then again the very same stuff I needed to make the friction fire a success would also be needed if forced to use the firesteel so my night hike from camp was a foregone conclusion.
I will include information to that firecraft aspect of the hike near the end of this report. Glacial erratics were scattered about.
Typical New England woodland setting.
The mother of all glacial erratics.
This is interesting.
Very dry inside.
Look! A stone roof!
My stash of wood. Should be about enough for what I need.
Twigt fire prep. I intend to use this wood to start a larger fire.
My firekit isn't all that indistinguishable from the wood prep. LOL!
And it all somehow works. I will always recommend packing at least 3 ways to start a fire and some prepared or foraged tinder before the actual need however it is what it is.
If my guess it right the naturalized norway spruce really tosses some sparks.
No mess kit, stove or utensils. A bit of a downer but at least I had some food! First up is the cooking sticks. I would use the leftover sweet birch leaves for a chopping mat and plate.
Dinner. GO!
After that it was an uneventful night. Here are the lights and blades used.
1. Fenix HP12 headlamp.
2. Fenix CL25R lantern.
3. Armytek Predator warm flashlight.
4. ANZA knife.
5. BHK Scandi Tiger Knapp.
All of the lights take the same 18650 battery. I never needed the flashlight during this outing however if either the headlamp or lantern required a battery it could have been taken from there. That's the pro of packing electronics using the same battery type. Being a night outing once the night was over so is part one. Packed everything up to get family and friends.
Part 2. The family and friends outing
Same area but moved the hammock.
And brought a pile of stuff!
DIY USB neutral tinted lantern/light bulb.
Sunjack USB light bulb.
Kids from 3 families attended. They went down the river to fish.
We all went on a hike. The kids did great.
Looks like hen of the woods but no expert on shrooms.
The same friction fire set from night one also worked again. A proven set more often than not works. I speculate that back in the day people carried proven sets rather than what we see on TV which shows friction fire on the fly. This is totally possible as done it myself but like packing multiple modern methods today people yesterday probably did everything possible to increase their chances of success. Again based on the fact we are here odds are it worked more often than not.
Lights on!
DIY USB lantern worked!
So did the Sunjack. On a side note the difference in tint or color shade between the two is very obvious.
Big power!
Time to teach the kids some skills. Firesteel practice with man made tinder. In this case paper towels. First up was my nephew. The little guy did "unk" proud.
Up next the 3 girls.
They all succeeded and did so with determination. That and some jabs during each unsuccessful attempt. Still I have seen some adults give up and fail but these children stuck with it until success.
The X factors. Every outing has an X factor. By this I am referring to unexpected snafus. I could be something like an empty fuel canister, bug crawling inside an ear (a nasty story for another day), missing kit, unexpected weather etc etc.
Multiple tents ate up all my tent stakes so had to make more. No big deal.
Now here is something a bit more interesting. Most of the kids left for their respective homes during the night however my nephew remained. Then he got sick so needed to drive the little guy home. Due to the narrow dirt road and parking situation I borrowed my uncle's car who was also camping. Drove the little guy back and once I made sure he was ok got in the car and nothing.... It was deader than a doornail. I tried to call my uncle but he wasn't answering his cell phone. The site was 4-5 miles away so what was I going to do. Maybe in a few hours he might call wondering what happened or maybe his phone wasn't working. There were suggestions for calling a cab or friends but it was 10:30pm. I have been hankering to use my cardio training for an actual purpose beyond just health concerns. I know the area well and could save a mile by running on roads, abandoned tracks, blue trails and a little bushwhacking.
I do night trail running but hardly ever on actual roads. Cracked out my reflective vest from work, grabbed a bottle of water and knife. Tossed everything in a daypack and headed out. Already had my headlamp but took an additional flashlight just incase. My nephew was spread eagle at the door yelling...Unk don't do it! Not sure what the little guy was thinking but told him it was nothing. About 20 minutes into the run my uncle called as he finally checked his messages. Offered to take the van to pick me up but I was on a roll. It was strange to be running and calmly taking on the phone at the same time. Resting heart rate in the 60 range rather than high 80's has it's benefits. About 10 minutes later came flying out of the woods into camp from the back side. Local knowledge really paid off and so did the conditioning. Not a bad run for 30-minutes considering last summer I couldn't walk without a cane due to medical complications. Only had a few funky sets of eye shine looking at me during the night run once I got off the road however that's old hat. It's nice to have another mode of transportation which doesn't depend on anything or anyone other than myself.
Outrageous luxury kit from the family outing.
OMG! An actual pillow.
Here is a video for Part 1. Sorry no video for part 2 as I was too busy doing other things. Kids can be demanding.
A video of the firecraft done on Part 1.
Thanks for looking.
Part 1. The solo night outing.
Sometimes during winter a sled will be employed to carry my pack and haul wood but this time I am using my truck. Unlike a sled this truck runs on gas.
Drove into camp setting up a lantern to claim ownership of the area.
So far the CL25R has been a winner.
My hammock. I found these trees a bit too near for the hammock's ropes but it was good enough.
First priority is a fire to cook as I didn't bring a mess kit, utensils or stove. Did I mention I had a truck? Also a dirt road. Among other things I found a sawed off section of a picnic table. No I didn't do it. LOL!
Also didn't have a tinder, matches or a lighter. But did have a proven friction fire set though given it rained during the day a hike would be in order to find resources to assure my firecraft success. To be honest I also had a firesteel attached to my necker's sheath so this is really just skillz practice. Then again the very same stuff I needed to make the friction fire a success would also be needed if forced to use the firesteel so my night hike from camp was a foregone conclusion.
I will include information to that firecraft aspect of the hike near the end of this report. Glacial erratics were scattered about.
Typical New England woodland setting.
The mother of all glacial erratics.
This is interesting.
Very dry inside.
Look! A stone roof!
My stash of wood. Should be about enough for what I need.
Twigt fire prep. I intend to use this wood to start a larger fire.
My firekit isn't all that indistinguishable from the wood prep. LOL!
And it all somehow works. I will always recommend packing at least 3 ways to start a fire and some prepared or foraged tinder before the actual need however it is what it is.
If my guess it right the naturalized norway spruce really tosses some sparks.
No mess kit, stove or utensils. A bit of a downer but at least I had some food! First up is the cooking sticks. I would use the leftover sweet birch leaves for a chopping mat and plate.
Dinner. GO!
After that it was an uneventful night. Here are the lights and blades used.
1. Fenix HP12 headlamp.
2. Fenix CL25R lantern.
3. Armytek Predator warm flashlight.
4. ANZA knife.
5. BHK Scandi Tiger Knapp.
All of the lights take the same 18650 battery. I never needed the flashlight during this outing however if either the headlamp or lantern required a battery it could have been taken from there. That's the pro of packing electronics using the same battery type. Being a night outing once the night was over so is part one. Packed everything up to get family and friends.
Part 2. The family and friends outing
Same area but moved the hammock.
And brought a pile of stuff!
DIY USB neutral tinted lantern/light bulb.
Sunjack USB light bulb.
Kids from 3 families attended. They went down the river to fish.
We all went on a hike. The kids did great.
Looks like hen of the woods but no expert on shrooms.
The same friction fire set from night one also worked again. A proven set more often than not works. I speculate that back in the day people carried proven sets rather than what we see on TV which shows friction fire on the fly. This is totally possible as done it myself but like packing multiple modern methods today people yesterday probably did everything possible to increase their chances of success. Again based on the fact we are here odds are it worked more often than not.
Lights on!
DIY USB lantern worked!
So did the Sunjack. On a side note the difference in tint or color shade between the two is very obvious.
Big power!
Time to teach the kids some skills. Firesteel practice with man made tinder. In this case paper towels. First up was my nephew. The little guy did "unk" proud.
Up next the 3 girls.
They all succeeded and did so with determination. That and some jabs during each unsuccessful attempt. Still I have seen some adults give up and fail but these children stuck with it until success.
The X factors. Every outing has an X factor. By this I am referring to unexpected snafus. I could be something like an empty fuel canister, bug crawling inside an ear (a nasty story for another day), missing kit, unexpected weather etc etc.
Multiple tents ate up all my tent stakes so had to make more. No big deal.
Now here is something a bit more interesting. Most of the kids left for their respective homes during the night however my nephew remained. Then he got sick so needed to drive the little guy home. Due to the narrow dirt road and parking situation I borrowed my uncle's car who was also camping. Drove the little guy back and once I made sure he was ok got in the car and nothing.... It was deader than a doornail. I tried to call my uncle but he wasn't answering his cell phone. The site was 4-5 miles away so what was I going to do. Maybe in a few hours he might call wondering what happened or maybe his phone wasn't working. There were suggestions for calling a cab or friends but it was 10:30pm. I have been hankering to use my cardio training for an actual purpose beyond just health concerns. I know the area well and could save a mile by running on roads, abandoned tracks, blue trails and a little bushwhacking.
I do night trail running but hardly ever on actual roads. Cracked out my reflective vest from work, grabbed a bottle of water and knife. Tossed everything in a daypack and headed out. Already had my headlamp but took an additional flashlight just incase. My nephew was spread eagle at the door yelling...Unk don't do it! Not sure what the little guy was thinking but told him it was nothing. About 20 minutes into the run my uncle called as he finally checked his messages. Offered to take the van to pick me up but I was on a roll. It was strange to be running and calmly taking on the phone at the same time. Resting heart rate in the 60 range rather than high 80's has it's benefits. About 10 minutes later came flying out of the woods into camp from the back side. Local knowledge really paid off and so did the conditioning. Not a bad run for 30-minutes considering last summer I couldn't walk without a cane due to medical complications. Only had a few funky sets of eye shine looking at me during the night run once I got off the road however that's old hat. It's nice to have another mode of transportation which doesn't depend on anything or anyone other than myself.
Outrageous luxury kit from the family outing.
OMG! An actual pillow.
Here is a video for Part 1. Sorry no video for part 2 as I was too busy doing other things. Kids can be demanding.
A video of the firecraft done on Part 1.
Thanks for looking.
Last edited: